The Confluence

Landscape with New Melones Lake in Spring

The Confluence is the blog of the California Institute for Water Resources (CIWR) within University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources. We cover timely topics of water management in California, highlighting innovative research and voices.

CIWR's mission is to integrate California's research, extension, and education programs to develop research-based solutions to water resource challenges. We do this by facilitating collaborative research and outreach on water issues across California's academic institutions and with international, federal, state, regional, nonprofit, and campus communities.

Visit us at: ciwr.ucanr.edu | follow us on Bluesky @ucanrwater.bsky.social, LinkedIn, and Twitter/X @ucanrwater

Dr. Sam Sandoval (center) shows afterschool program youth a groundwater model. Photo by Jose Huerta.

Culturally appropriate youth water education

September 30, 2020

By Faith Kearns. Claudia Diaz Carrasco is a 4-H youth development advisor with UC Cooperative Extension in Riverside and San Bernardino counties who has expertise in developing water programs for diverse youth communities.

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Photo courtesy of the Luskin Center for Innovation.

When it comes to water access, the devil is in the details

September 24, 2020

By Faith Kearns An interview with Greg Pierce who is the Associate Director of the Luskin Center for Innovation at UCLA and serves as a Senior Researcher, leading the Water, Environmental Equity, and Transportation programs.

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An instrumented forest restoration site in the Middle Fork of the American River Basin. Credit: Safeeq Khan.

The impacts of timber harvest on sediment transport and yield in watersheds

August 11, 2020

After timber harvest or fuel reduction thinning operations, sediment delivery to nearby streams and waterways can increase, potentially affecting water quality, drinking water supplies, habitat, and recreational opportunities.

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Students in the Tripati Lab. Photo courtesy of Center for Diverse Leadership in Science.

Retaining diverse environment and water scholars through community

June 15, 2020

By Faith Kearns. By any measure, Aradhna Tripati is a brilliant scientist. She began college full-time at the age of 12, has been on the faculty at UCLA since 2009, and received tenure in 2014.

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Maggie Reiter with stakeholders on a naturalized area of a golf course. Photo by James Hempfling.

Golf courses go wild

May 13, 2020

By Kathryn M Stein

When we think about golf courses, we tend to picture miles of well-watered, uniformly clipped, and perfectly manicured grass, not drought-tolerant native grass, wildlife habitat, and ecological restoration.

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